Cross the Stars
by CPegasus
Summary: Between Light and Darkness, between Good and Evil, between Jedi and Sith, there are two young people in love.


Hello there. I've just got to say a few things before we start here, to cover my butt. I based this fic mostly on knowledge from the original Knights of the Old Republic game, and the movies. I freely admit to being completely wrong on many points of how the Jedi academies work, but by the time I realized I was dead wrong, it was too late to go back; the plot would have been entirely thrown off in a few places. Secondly, every one of these characters is my own creation. No familiar faces, so don't expect them. Three, I can't say I know for sure when this should be set. I'd put it somewhere pre-KOTOR. Finally, the fic has been completely written, so no suggestions for plot, please. With all that out of the way, please enjoy.

0-0-0-0-0

The calm beauty of Dantooine was lost on no one. Young Force-sensitives, brought for the first time away from their families and to the Academy, crews of ships receiving aid from the mechanics, families coming to settle on the peaceful planet, they all admired its landscape and it's tranquility. But Ah-Fen Deno had lived on the planet for ten years, and had more important things to do than watch the sunset. She only stopped for a moment to admire the view.

"Windom!" She called out over the hills. "Windom, where are you? You gotta come back! Ugh!" She folded her arms at the girl she could not see. "You are so difficult sometimes!" With that, Ah-Fen hurried back to the Academy.

She arrived to find Masters Ohm Kira and Lain Nova in what was, for them, a fairly calm discussion.

"I did nothing I wouldn't have done for any other student!" Nova proclaimed loudly.

"Well most other students aren't so fragile! You have to be more in tune with that-"

"Don't tell me how to do my job, Kira." Nova's voice was icy, but no less so than usual during her debates. "I cannot make exceptions because a student is weak. She has to become stronger."

"She never will if all you do is tell her how wrong she is."

Ah-Fen did not want to interrupt her teachers, but her duty had been to check in. She coughed softly and bowed her head. "I couldn't find her, Master Kira. She must have gone further than I could shout."

Kira sighed, running a hand through his long, light hair. "Thank you, Ah-Fen."

"I did nothing to be thankful of, Master," Ah-Fen said sadly.

"Of course you did. You looked out for a friend in need. You tried your best, that's all we can ask of you."

Ah-Fen smiled for a moment, and then let it fade away. "Thank you, Master."

"You go off to dinner now, Padawan," Nova cut in. "There's nothing more you can do."

"Please, I want to help find her," the girl replied, picking her head up.

"No, there is nothing to be done. It would be best to leave this matter to us, and the older students," Nova answered before Kira could say anything. With another short bow, Ah-Fen wandered away.

"There's no reason Ah-Fen couldn't have continued the search," Kira said gently.

"Do not tell me how to do my job, Kira!" Nova collected herself. "Send Su-Jen. He'll be the most useful if there's any trouble, and we need to stay here, in case anyone _else_ decides to run off."

With a curt nod, Kira walked away.

The student in question, Su-Jen Miwa, was waiting around the corner. Kira nearly walked into the senior student; he was waiting so close and so ready.

"Eavesdropping again, Padawan?" Kira asked with a hint of an amused grin.

"Far from it, simply taking a stroll," Su-Jen replied in the same fashion.

Kira shook his head. "You shouldn't listen in on conversations that aren't yours."

"Listen in? The entire school can hear when you and Nova are fighting!"

"_Master_ Nova, Su-Jen," Kira reminded him, but he chuckled. "Yes, I suppose that's true. But now's not the time. Do you know Windom Fa'al?"

"I know of her, Master. I know what she looks like."

"Good. Go out at once, you know the Kath Hounds are more active this time of day. She's not armed, she left right in the middle of Master Nova's class."

"What did No- _Master_ Nova do?" Su-Jen asked.

"That's not important. Just bring back Windom before it gets dark." Kira's normally conversational tone was more formal than Su-Jen was used to, and he took that to mean that the conversation had ended.

"Yes, Master." Su-Jen checked quickly that his Lightsabre was still at his side, and went off over Dantooine's beautiful hills.

0-0-0-0-0

Windom Fa'al was lying half-asleep near an old temple. She sighed, brown bangs flying up, driven by her breath, and then falling down into green eyes. In twelve years of training, she'd never failed a class so completely as she had today. Nova's classes always had been hard for a meek little soul like hers.

Master Nova taught classes on how to resist the pull of the Dark Side of the Force. The strain was all mental, and the reward in character. Windom never had been good at resisting; while she could hold her own in a physical fight, she'd never had any reason to test herself mentally. Constantly, Master Nova had to remind her to focus, or to calm down a racing mind. Windom often felt that she'd do better to study than meditate.

Master Nova was known among the students for her strict grading. Of all the Masters, she had the shortest fuse when it came to her class. After a straight week of failures, it was hardly a surprise when Nova's fuse ran out. Even back at her first home, on Alderaan, she'd never been so severely chastised. Windom had already been upset about her failure; Nova's shouting hadn't made anything better. Windom had run off to escape before she even realized where her legs were taking her.

But the sun was beginning to set over far away hills, and Windom suddenly realized that she was not sure how to get back to the Academy. She sat up, now awake at the sound of a Kath Hound howling in the distance. She looked around: she'd gone so far from home that the school couldn't even be seen.

"You always were brilliant, Windom," she said to herself with a soft sigh. She stood up and began to walk with her back to the sunset.

After walking for a while, she heard a very familiar voice calling to her.

"Windom! Dinner's over! Get back here!"

"Fen! I'm here, I'm coming!" she yelled back, and hurried forward. But Ah-Fen, who had wandered away from the window, could not hear her; unfortunately, a nearby Kath Hound could. And in her rush, Windom tripped over a root peeking out from the ground.

All Windom could see was the green grass in front of her face as she fell, and all she could hear was the frenzied barking of the hound and two of its friends. She instinctively patted her belt, looking for her blaster or a vibroblade, but Master Nova did not allow weapons in her classroom. No one could count on a blaster to save her from the Dark Side. It could, however, definitely be counted on to save you from Kath Hound, and Windom was unfortunately unarmed. She screamed and braced herself for the attack, but instead of ferocious growls she heard a terrified whimpering, and the unmistakable sound of a Lightsabre being ignited.

Windom looked up from her cowering position on the ground to see a tall, blond, long-haired man—little more than a boy really, but more of a man than she was a woman—standing over her and watching the Hounds run away, illuminated by the green light from the sabre in his hand. He looked down at her once he was sure the Hounds would not be returning.

"Windom Fa'al, am I right?"

She stood up, shivering slightly in the aftermath of her scare. "Yeah. Do I…do I know you?"

"I don't think so. I'm Su-Jen, they sent me to find you. Quite a lot of people are worried about you, you know."

"I'm sorry, I got lost," she said, looking at the ground instead of her senior. "And I didn't have a weapon…I shouldn't have run off like that."

"Hey, I don't blame you." Su-Jen disabled his sabre and started to walk back the way he'd come from. Windom followed. "You were in Nova's class, right? She drives everyone over the edge sooner or later. You know how she is, if she can't control your every reaction she loses it."

Windom giggled, then stopped herself with a nervous smile. "We shouldn't talk about Master Nova that way."

"Yeah, but we do," Su-Jen replied nonchalantly, waving his sabre at another Hound that thought about approaching.

"Are you a senior student, then?" She asked, looking slightly afraid of the bright green light. "I mean, since you can carry a sabre. Is it yours?"

"Nah," Su-Jen twirled the sabre deftly. "It's a loan. I don't get to make my own until my graduation test. But I won't have to wait much longer."

They climbed a hill, and the Academy came back into sight. Su-Jen kept walking, but Windom held back. He looked back at her. "What's wrong?"

"…I don't…I don't want to go back," she said after a pause.

Su-Jen walked back to her and patted her head. "There's no point staying out here. I'm sure Kira saved you some dinner, and your friends are worried."

"Well…"

"Come on, you can put off seeing Nova until you've had something to eat if you want."

"How did you know?" Windom asked, smiling a little in spite of herself.

"No one wants to see her after their breakdown. I actually avoided her class for a week after she made me cry one time," he admitted with a casual toss of his head. "But it just made it worse when she tracked me down. Trust me, you want to get this over with."

"Okay," Windom said, and walked with him back to the school with Su-Jen.

She was barely in the door when she was tackled by Ah-Fen. "Windom where have you been? We were worried about you!"

"I'm fine, Fen. I'm sorry I ran off."

"You should be!" Ah-Fen scolded while hugging Windom a bit too hard. "My little Windom, what would I do if you got hurt!"

Windom laughed and choked. "Fen, you're crushing me."

Ah-Fen instantly let go. "Well excuse me for being worried about you!"

Su-Jen smiled at the girls' tender display. He nodded to Windom, who returned the gesture and turned back to Ah-Fen. "I have to go straighten things out, I made a big mistake today."

"I'm coming with you then! Where to?"

"First to Kira's room, I'd say," Su-Jen cut in. "Miss Fa'al missed dinner, right? If I know Kira, he saved her something."

Windom's stomach growled, and they all laughed. "Alright then…but I really don't want to talk to Master Nova…"

"It'll be alright," Su-Jen assured her, patting her soft brown hair again.

"Okay," Windom said, and the three of them set off for Kira's study.


End file.
